Kirby Smart updates status of injured O-linemen ahead of Auburn game

Keith Farner| 2 years ago

Georgia’s offensive line has experienced a rash of injuries in recent weeks, and now the Bulldogs are facing a strong test from Auburn’s defensive line.

Coach Kirby Smart said this week that Lamont Gaillard and Cade Mays were limited, but did some work at practice. He labeled them as day to day. Mays suffered a “stinger” and Gaillard is dealing with a hyperextended knee.

Auburn’s defensive line is regarded as one of the best around, and Smart explained why.

“They’re big, they’re physical, they’re quick, they’re athletic. A lot of them are gonna be high draft picks,” he said. “We’ve been against them before. It seems like they’ve been there forever. They’re talented, and they do a good job up front. I think the biggest thing is being consistent. You’ve got to keep chopping wood. You can’t expect to get a lot of movement early on those guys. They’re heavy and they strike. We’re gonna strike. Two guys striking each other, two stubborn teams. They wanna stop the run and we want to run the ball. We’ll see how it goes.”

Auburn is second in the SEC with 29 sacks, and leads the league with 79 tackles for a loss, six more than Alabama. Georgia, meanwhile, leads the SEC in rushing offense at 233 yards per game.

Georgia’s won four of the last five meetings in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

They were pretty beat up after playing Bama in the Iron Bowl at the end of the season and we took advantage of it. Kerryon looked hurt and was trying to play through his ailments of his bad shoulder. We will see in Athens Saturday night how we fare against a healthy Auburn team.

I think the difference in last years SECCG was UGA attacked the edges rather than run into the teeth of that Auburn D line. Kerryon being hurt was a definite plus on UGA’s side in that game as well. The biggest advantage was the game wasn’t at Jordan-Hare…